Love Each Other
by SpacePirateGirl
Summary: In a world, where the one you need doesn't love you in return, and in a land, forcing you to make the toughest decisions of your life, Rock Lee struggles to do the right thing for Tenten... and his dream. [Oneshot] [Rock Lee x Tenten]


A/N: This is for one of my bestest online friends:-D He's really awesome, even if he's cranky at times (LOL, I'm jk on the cranky part), so I hope he likes it :-) Anyway, it's a oneshot between Rock Lee and Tenten. I don't know the characters extremely well, so please don't kill me if they're OOC. If you have any criticism on how I can make them more in character, I'd be pleased to listen, so yep. That's that :-D It took forever, so I hope you enjoy it!!!

-x-X-x-

Love Each Other

-x-X-x

I need to be the best. I need to get stronger, even though I have no natural ability. I fight so hard, I train until I can't any longer. I strive to be perfect. Why, you might ask? Because I need to be strong enough to protect _he__r_.

Ever since the day I saw her, I might not have known it, but I _did_ truly love her. Back then, I found it so strange that she could cheer my dampened mood with simply a laugh or a smile. . . Now I know why she always could comfort me but not deliberately. Because _I _loved her.

Things don't always go as planned, however. . . I once thought that all I had to do was tell her of my undying love, but as the years drifted by, I don't think she would return the same emotion. It was that one day when I decided never to tell her I loved her. . . never to mention it at all, even to myself.

_I watched Tenten sit down beside me. She started fidgeting with her brown hair as she always did when she wanted to say something important._

_I, of course, waited politely for her to begin speaking. Hours seemed to pass although they were only minutes. I wanted to cheer her up, seeing that sad expression on her face, but I couldn't think of what to say. Her face, her beauty had, as always, stunned me to silence._

"_I love him," Tenten told me, so quietly that it was almost inaudible._

_For a moment, I froze. . . she must have been talking about me. . . but she said "him." Who else could there be for her to love? Then I realized who it was. . . she loved Neji, not me, Neji._

"_I love Neji," she clarified. "But I'm scared to tell him. What if he doesn't love me back? What should I do?"_

_For once, Tenten couldn't lighten my mood, for _she_ had been the one to lower it. But, I wasn't one to hold a grudge, so I thought of a suitable response instead. "If you really love him, then you. . . you. . ." I was trying to reach for words, which were not there. "Well, _I'll_ ask him how he feels about you, but I won't tell him what you said. Will that help?"_

_Tenten shrugged sadly. "I guess. . ."_

_Another few minutes of silence, save for the birds chirping, stretched on as I tried to discover the right words to cheer her up. I didn't want to lie to her, even if I somehow knew Neji did not love Tenten in return. So I told her the words that Gai-sensei was always able to cheer me up with._

"_You want to go practice our ninja skills?" I asked as nicely as I could._

"_Okay," Tenten answered, a smile crossing her face. "Sounds fun."_

_We trained until it became dark, both helping each other with our own personal techniques. For a while, I forgot what she had said about Neji, forgot how crushed I was, forgot about the future, and simply lost myself in my training. But at the end of the day, I remembered everything and grew sad again._

_Tenten noticed and although she couldn't possibly have any idea on what was wrong, she still attempted to cheer me up. "Hey, Lee," she called to me as I turned to go home._

_I stopped and stared back at her, waiting for her to say something._

_Tenten smiled. "Thanks. . . for everything."_

_I struck her the "nice-guy" pose, and returned to walking home. Only later did I realize that she knew exactly what had made me sad that day._

I had always kept that day in my memories, always ready to recall, but never on my mind at all times. But now, since I became weak again, since Gaara had destroyed my ability to become a ninja, the memory was fresh on my mind. I no longer could drown it out with more training.

Being a Shinobi was everything to me, I needed to grow strong, I needed to impress Tenten and everyone else who meant something to me. But with a surgery and only a half-chance of living through it, and even a smaller chance of the risk actually being successful, I could not see my path clearly any more.

That was when Gai-sensei intervened. I had always looked up to him as a father, and he spoke to me the truth always, however painful it was for both of us.

"I thought I'd find you here," his sensei had said a while ago.

"Gai. . . Gai-sensei," I had answered, staring up into Gai's sparkling smile. "How did you know how to find me?"

"I know everything about you, Lee," Gai had responded as he gave a thumbs-up. "I hear you've been skipping out of your physical therapy. You know better." At that Gai-sensei had poked my forehead as his teacher always did when he was nicely scolding him.

But rather than apologizing, I only could feel even more sad. I missed my training. . . I missed Tenten. "Back when I made Gennin," I spoke aloud, changing the subject, "I swore I would realize my every dream, right here on this spot. . . I swore, and Neji laughed at me back then. But I meant every word of it. . ." The word Neji had almost brought tears to my eyes, but I ignore the feeling. "I remember you told me," I had continued, "that with the right amount of passion, and some healthy competition, we would all be great ninja. And to make it happen we would have to work at it."

A flashback had returned to my mind, as I had remembered struggling to transform, just to get at least one step closer to my dream of telling Tenten I loved her. "I knew I could do it. . . back in the Academy there was not a single person, Sensei or student, who said that kind of thing to me. . ."

I remembered them shunning me, as clear as if it were yesterday. But that only demonstrated how much Gai-sensei meant to me. "Your words were a relief. Just as I began to feel lost, you lifted the fog from my eyes. I knew it. All I had to do was work harder." And I had worked harder. . . "And when I said that hard work was no match against true genius, you told me, 'I was a genius of hard work.' Thanks you to you and your encouragement, I finally learned the importance of believing in myself."

All that time Gai-sensei had just watched, and that was when I started crying.

"But it's not the same this time," I had continued. "Even if I believe in myself and try as hard as I can, it will not make any difference. Gai-sensei, tell me what to do! How come I am the only one being punished like this?! Tell me what should I do?! What do I do?! That means _everything_ to me!"

Gai-sensei then had closed his eyes as I still cried and still clenched and unclenched my own hands. I had waited longingly for his answer yet I knew only I could make the decision. I had to be a Shinobi, but did I love Tenten enough to go through with that surgery, that less than fifty-fifty-chanced suicide?

"Listen, Lee," Gai-sensei had finally said, and I had known he was speaking the truth. "If you wish to be freed of this suffering, you need to make a decision!"

I had glanced up, fearfully taking in what I had heard. "Do you mean, I should be prepared to give up on my dreams?" I said with a half laugh.

His voice had been growing stern, but I was not afraid. When Gai-sensei was serious, he _was serious_. I just had to listen. "If you lose your dreams," Gai continued, "you'll undergo pain far worse than what you feel now. The two of us have a lot in common, Lee. Without our ninja guidance, the two of us would never survive. . . Get the operation. . . Lee. . ."

I had gasped. _Was this really happening?!_ But Gai-sensei was always right. . . I just had to listen to him.

-X-x-X-

Well, I had got the surgery. . . and I could only hope it had successfully healed my wounds. I missed training so much, and I hated watching everyone else progress further than me. Naruto, Sasuke, Shikamaru, Chouji. . . even Tenten. . . and so did Neji, a name I could hardly speak or even think without tears or anger coming to my eyes. I still spoke to him, but only when he spoke to me. . .

Then the impossible happened. Sasuke Uchiha had left the village, and Sakura was in tears. Seeing her made me sad all over again, because she was mirroring my own struggle with Tenten. She loved Sasuke—I had come to terms with that a while ago, and had given up on proclaiming my love to her—but Sasuke didn't love her in return, and he just kept turning away. . . Just like Tenten didn't love me, she loved Neji. So I struck Sakura with the "nice-guy" pose. . . and told her Naruto would bring Sasuke back.

I returned to the village, staring at the hundred stairs lying before me. . . I desired desperately to climb them, but. . . of course, Tsunade had stopped me, telling me a bunch of nonsense (like resisting to train could actually be training). I listened to the crap anyway, and returned home. The only thought that gave me hope was that every day I was one step closer to the path of being a Shinobi again. . . maybe Tenten would change her mind about Neji with time, too. . . Time, that's all it would take, time.

-X-x-X-

I had waited. . . I had waited almost an eternity. . . More than three years, I had waited, and the few things that had changed were all part of my Taijutsu. I had grown stronger, recovered from that surgery, and became a Chunnin at sixteen. But one thing hadn't changed, the one thing I had desperately hoped would change.

Tenten.

She had grown stronger, yes, but she still was madly in love with Neji. Time had not changed her character, and neither had it changed mine. . . I was still clinging to the hope that she would grow to love me.

Now we were in a battle against two members of the Akatsuki. A heated, ferocious battle with only one possible outcome—one side losing their lives. Gai-sensei wasn't there to help us, Neji had become terribly injured due to the attacks on his blind spot (the Akatsuki had discovered that fatal weakness), Tenten was tiring and losing tons of her Chakra, I could tell. And me? All I had to rely on was my Taijutsu. . . I wasn't much of a threat to them.

But I _was_ fast.

There came a moment when both Tenten and Neji were in danger, the Akatsuki members were aiming for both of their hearts. I was in between them, fast enough to block one over the other and save just one with my Taijutsu, but. . . which one?

I could save Tenten, who probably had a very slight chance of escaping the fatal attack headed her way. Consequently, Neji might die, but, at least, Tenten might start loving me instead.

Or I could save Neji, who still might escape the attack anyway. . . then Tenten wouldn't hate me for saving her over her love, yet. . . but I would lose her. . .

The choice was clear yet tainted with the bloody air of the battle. Neji was a skilled Ninja, he had a better chance of dodging. So I saved Tenten instead, and helped her dodge the Akatsuki's attack. And to my huge surprise, Neji was struck down, just struck down, simply fallen to the ground like a dead hero. . .

But. . . he _was_ a dead hero now. . . Tenten, who only seconds later discovered what had happened, buried her head in my back. I regretted my decision yet I was happy for it. . . I don't know, all my concentration had been lost in the battle. The only chance we had now of living was to retreat, so I took Neji's lifeless body, along with Tenten, clinging to my shoulders, and fled.

The two Akatsuki members laughed at my cowardice, but did not follow. After traveling as far away from those horrid enemies as I could, I stopped in a clearing to rest. And that was when I cried. . . I laid Neji's body down every so softly, and comforted the sleeping Tenten, who had cried herself to exhaustion.

The fact was that I didn't know if I saved Tenten truly because Neji had a better chance of survival or because I was jealous of him. . . It could've been a combination, too. . . I would never know the answer.

-X-x-X-

Neji's funeral had passed, and all the Rookie Nine had shown up, except for one person. . . Tenten.

She had stayed at home, too upset to actually attend the funeral. Before I returned to my own home, however, I stopped at hers to check up on her. I found her, face-down on the pillow, soaking the cloth with tears.

"Tenten?" I asked politely, hoping for any sort of reaction. "I'm sorry—"

"Don't," she said suddenly. Her voice wasn't clouded with rage or tears as I thought it would be, but it was stern.

"Do not what?" I replied softly.

"Don't be sorry," she continued, tilting her head so I could see her face more clearly. Tears streaked her cheeks, but her eyes were clear rather than clouded. "It was my fault," the teenage girl continued, "all my fault. I was so dumb."

"You are not dumb," I said, trying to comfort her, but I only made it worse.

"Yes, I am," Tenten responded, her eyes growing cloudy again. "I've been so stupid this whole time. Loving Neji while he didn't care about me the same way. And I knew it. Ever since that day I told you, I knew my love for Neji would never work out."

I sat down next to her and frowned sadly. Love was such a sad thing. . . people said it was healthy to love, that it was a happy emotion. Whoever believed those words of false wisdom had never experienced _true_ love before. Love depressed you, love bit at you until it hurt, and_ true_ love rarely worked out.

"I turned my back on you, Lee," Tenten continued, smiling sadly. "I should've realized I loved you more than Neji sooner. It shouldn't have taken a death for me to realize it. . . _I'm_ sorry. . ."

Had I just heard that correctly? She loved him? "You. . . _love_ me?" I asked, stumbling blindly for words.

Tenten nodded. "Yes. And I know you love me, too. . . you hurt yourself too much when you train. You don't need to impress me, and there's no need to protect me. All we need is our love for each other."

"T-Tenten. . ." I stammered, but suddenly I stood up and, once again, struck the nice-guy pose. "All right then. From this day forward, I will always love you, Tenten. That's a promise."

Tenten giggled. I had missed that giggle, the wave of happiness that consumed me every time she laughed like that.

"You don't have to be so formal about it," she teased, and took his hand.

We would always be together from that day on, I knew it. We would live for each other, die for each other. Be there for each other. . .

Love each other.

-x-X-x-

A/N: Thanks for reading:-D If you have any ideas on how this could be better, I'd be sooooo happy if you could slip a quick review on your way out :-) Thanks again!! You guys are awesome, whoever reads this. (I should put on my profile that when I say "guys" it's a loose term. . . it includes the female section of society, too. :-P LOL) Anyway, see ya:-)


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